Texting your children while driving is a big distraction
JOBURG - Parents will never guess where young drivers’ top distraction comes from
The Nielsen survey, commissioned in the USA by Ford Motor Company, has found that parents texting and calling their children while their children are behind the wheel ranks among young drivers’ top perceived distractions when driving.
One in three young drivers said they are distracted by texts and calls from parents and family members asking about their whereabouts. The drivers also said these types of interruptions are more distracting than being contacted by friends.
The survey also found that half of these young drivers report telling their parents or family where they were going – or that they’ll be on the road – before even starting the ignition. But still, parents continue to contact them on their cellphones.
Families of adult drivers reach out to their loved ones on the road, too. One in five drivers across all ages reports being distracted when they’re behind the wheel by phone calls and texts from family members.
For these drivers, low-visibility conditions, text messages and phone calls from friends rank as the top distractions. Other distractions these motorists report include bad drivers, traffic, deciding what music to listen to, obstacles in the road and monitoring blind spots.
Research indicates that visual distraction is the primary contributor to distraction-related crash risks, while research also finds that normal listening and talking among adults in the car does not raise the risk nearly as much.
Ford recommends that all drivers keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel as much as possible so they are better able to react to the changing demands different driving situations bring.
The survey also found that many young drivers admit to sometimes initiating conversations with their parents. Among all drivers, 20 percent report initiating calls to family while on the road.
If a driver must make an outgoing call, hands-free dialling and conversations that are short and argument-free make sense to help keep love ones behind the wheel safely in sync with their parents.
